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Republicans must shed their pale stale and male orientation and accept that demography is destiny.

Republicans can't change immigration policy until they embrace immigrants. This is not a check-the-box issue but a moral imperative to value all Americans. This is not a strategic play for Latino votes issue because it is not a Latino issue - many ethnic groups from Irish to Asian to African to European see this as an American ethic of inclusion and empowerment.

Thus the sad election spectacle of Karl Rove mailing out voter pamphlets claiming that President Obama supports a plan to "roll out the red carpet for illegal immigrants" while talking a more moderate game on TV reveals the ugly nativism still too powerful in Republican circles. The post-election actions of House Republicans who allowed Committee Chairmanship waiver for white make Paul Ryan but not for immigrant Latina Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and who passed a visa bill limiting the diversity lottery show that they still don't get it.

Ultimately, immigration reform may turn on how leaders respond to children. Remember May 2010 2010 when a second grader asked First Lady Michelle Obama "Will my mom get deported?"

That stark question prompted action - within weeks the White House put muscle behind the Democratic House- passed DREAM Act and barely lost a GOP Senate filibuster. The response to President Obama's Deferred Action order was tremendous - not just because DREAMers got assistance but because America took a big step closer to a solution to help that little girl's mom. We voted to move forward yet it may take a chorus of children demanding change from Republican leaders who'd better deliver change before these kids become voters and change the leaders.

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